Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said he thinks the Democratic Party “overcompensated” with its response to President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration in his first term.
Former President Joe Biden and his administration received major criticism for their handling of border security, as the United States’s illegal immigrant population reached an all-time high of 14 million in 2023. De Blasio said he didn’t like Biden’s handling of the border, but didn’t say anything at the time because he “didn’t think it was as bad as it was.”
De Blasio also noted how Biden was able to “reverse course” and “tighten” border security in 2024, asking, “Why did he wait until the final year” to do this?
“Listen: I think the American people were pissed off at the Democrats in Biden’s term because they did not see a secure border, and I say, ‘Shame on us,’ we should’ve understood that there were things – you didn’t have to be inhumane to have a secure border, right?” de Blasio said on Fox News’s Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast Thursday.
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“I think in Trump [term] one, with the detention facilities and everything else, there were legitimate concerns, right? But we, in a sense, overcompensated [and] went too far back the other way,” de Blasio said.
The former mayor also said he believes the U.S. needs a border agency, but added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has gone astray beyond repair.” Democratic lawmakers have heavily criticized ICE in Trump’s second term and its focus on deportations of illegal immigrants.
De Blasio questioned why ICE is going to a “Home Depot parking lot” to pick up illegal immigrants. Host Sean Hannity agreed, saying deportations should be prioritized for “rapists, murderers, cartel members.”
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In May 2025, the Washington Examiner learned that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller “eviscerated” ICE officials during a private meeting, telling them, “You guys aren’t doing a good job.” One official said Miller “wants everyone arrested,” even asking them, “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?”
Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said on Monday that the 2020 Democratic Party’s presidential primary race was “essentially a bidding contest over who would be softest on immigration,” a contest that Biden won. Going forward, the 2028 election will see Democratic candidates “reckon” with Biden’s handling of illegal immigration and how they will “vow not to make it happen again.”
